Anarchy in Kurdistan?

Murray Bookchin's new fans

The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, has been active in the Kurdish parts of Turkey since the '70s. It has a sometimes sordid history: Its politics were Marxist-Leninist, and its willingness to kill prisoners and civilians earned a rebuke from Amnesty International. Its leader, Abdullah Öcalan, has been under arrest since 1999, but its armed struggle with the Turkish state continued until a ceasefire was reached last year.

I was vaguely aware of all that, and I may even have read at some point that Öcalan had recently rejected his old Leninist outlook and terrorist tactics, proclaiming a newfound devotion to democracy. What I did not realize was what brand of democracy had attracted Öcalan's interest. Somehow, he became smitten with the American left-anarchist Murray Bookchin. He appears to be particularly interested in Bookchin's idea of devolving power to cities governed by neighborhood assemblies.

I just called Bookchin an anarchist, but by the time he died Bookchin had rejected that label, calling himself a "Communalist" instead. But I'm not writing this post to discuss Bookchin's ideas—the curious reader can check out my obit for him here and Reason's interview with him here—so much as just to express my astonishment to see Bookchinism bubbling up in the PKK, of all places.

ROAR has more on Öcalan's evolution here. Bookchin's partner Janet Biehl discusses these developments here. Some left-anarchists greet the PKK's conversion with a mixture of interest and skepticism here. Kevin Carson is enthusiastic here. The most blistering critique of Bookchin ever written is here. A latebreaking correction to my Bookchin obit is here.

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Ah, so they moved from an asshole version of statism where TOP MEN bludgeon people for equality and the greater good, to an asshole version of anarchy where MOB MEN bludgeon people for equality and the greater good. Fantastic.

anarcho-syndicalism and anarcho-communism aren’t compulsory anything by a state, and a rejection of a capitalist standard of property doesn’t require a state, anymore than a rejection of usufructory rights does. Neither standard can be logically deduced from self-ownership so the functioning of any society with either standard requires some consensus on the enforcement mechanism to be used. If this enforcement mechanism is a state to you, well, I got news for you…

A Kurdish guy in a Turkish prison was a Marxist but is now some kind of leftist community organizer? If he can produce an American birth certificate I think we have found the next Democrat Presidential nominee.

The relatives who used to give me the skinny have largely passed away so all I know is what I read on the highly reliable Internet.

When I last paid attention, a few years ago, the PKK were still killing anyone who looked funny to them. They might have turned over a new leaf and stopped being bloodthirsty Stalinists for all I know.

We’re an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week. But all the decision of that officer have to be ratified at a special biweekly meeting. By a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs, but by a two-thirds majority in the case of more….

Kudos for publishing this brief article about one of the world’s most important current left-libertarian movements. Too bad readers aren’t more interested in traditional anarchism than their comments reveal.

Worth pointing out the influence of the Zapatistas on the PKK, who had earlier had a similar ideological evolution.

Also worth pointing out the role of PKK-associated forces rescuing Yazidis from the Islamic State forces.